Electronic packages (modules) generally employ circuit components mounted onto a circuit board, such as a printed circuit board. Prior to use in an application, the electronic package is typically tested to ensure that the circuit board components are present and function properly. Testing for the presence and proper operation of circuit board components may include visual inspection to ensure that the components are present in the desired location. Visual inspection may be performed manually or automatically with visual recognition equipment. However, visual inspection approaches generally require sophisticated visual recognition equipment and/or are generally time consuming.
Other circuit board component testing include applying an in-circuit test to verify that the electrical connection and operation of the discrete electronic components soldered onto the circuit board are operational. This may be achieved by testing components, individually or as a group, by applying electrical signals across test probes and measuring the output of individual integrated circuit components, an output of a group of components or the output of the entire circuit as a whole. However, in some circuit arrangements, it is often difficult to effectively test for the presence and operation of circuit components.
One example of a conventional electronic package with a circuit arrangement that may be difficult to properly test with conventional testing techniques is shown in FIG. 1 labeled 110. Package 110 has a circuit including electrically conductive elements formed on a circuit board generally shown by reference identifier 136. The circuit is shown having a power supply 112, circuit traces 120 and integrated circuits 118A–118N. Additionally, the circuit includes surface mount electronic devices including a large bulk capacitor 114 and a series of bypass capacitors 116A and 116B. The circuit is further shown missing a bypass capacitor 116N.
The conventional circuit configuration for connecting the surface mount components onto the circuit board 136 typically employs first and second contact pads 122 and 124 formed on the surface of the circuit board 136. The surface mount components, such as bypass capacitors 116A and 116B are each soldered at first and second terminals. The first terminal of the surface mount device is soldered to the first contact pad 122 and the second terminal is soldered to the second contact pad 124.
When employing small bypass capacitors 116A, 116B in combination with a large bulk capacitor 114, the omission of any one of the small bypass capacitors generally may not be easily detected by an operational in-circuit test. As a consequence, if one of the bypass capacitors 116A, 116B is missing, the electronic package 110 may fail and/or suffer in performance which may adversely affect the resulting circuit application.
It is therefore desirable to provide for a circuit board component connection that allows for low cost and effective testing of electronic surface mount electronic components on the circuit board.